Windows 7 vs Windows 10??

[SiliconWizard]

I don't really know what they're doing.

My view is that it all started when they decided to jump on the "mobile" bandwagon, some time around when Apple's iPhone began to take off. My understanding is that they suddenly began to be afraid of Apple's competition, something they had managed to keep under "control", or even ignore, for several decades. Incidentally, that's also when Bill Gates decided to stop all operational work at MS. You may conclude what you wish.

Apple pretty much introduced some key ideas at the time: that mobile platforms were going to be something big in terms of market, that the line between mobile and desktop computers was going to get fuzzy, and that a common OS architecture and associated online services was an interesting idea to go down this road. Microsoft basically took all those ideas and went on with the development of Windows 8, Windows Phone (a major flop), their cloud services, etc.

Beyond the Windows Phone disaster, they saw that "software as a service" was the new graal, promising a regular revenue stream. No more uncertainties, no more "every other OS version is a failure". Windows 10, Office 365 are epitomes of this new strategy. Do not let users have a choice. Choice is bad!

Sadly, what really started it all was this "one OS for all platforms" idea, which IMO utterly failed: Windows Phone was a commercial flop, I consider Microsoft tablets a semi-flop as well, but MS still insisted on shoving all those "mobile" paradigms and UI quirks down the throat of desktop users, leaving a very inconsistent UI, whereas Windows until then had maybe not the prettiest UI, but a very consistent one.

Beyond Windows' case, software as a service is just an example of the trend to switch from a traditional sales model (companies sell products to people that become owners) to a rent model, in which consumers do not really own their goods anymore, they just rent them. This raises a ton of questions, including the position of private property in this "new" world.

[soldar]

I'm a Windows guy and there is absolutely nothing wrong with Windows 10, it's not shit, you're just doing it wrong. ;-)

</sarcasm>

I was thinking about this for a moment.  I do not like being sodomized by Bill Gates. For me "doing it right" would mean switching around and I get to sodomize Bill Gates while I get paid humongous amounts of money to do so. Yes, that sounds a bit better than Win10.

[free_electron]

Does anyone know if there is a tool that nukes all the annoying things from win 10 ?
There used to be something called pcdecrapifier to hunt down all the junk companies install on store bought machines. ( like demoe and time limited junk.)

what i want to accomplish :

- Disable automatic updates. Download them but let me choose when to install. The install system is broken.
- disable anything that gets sent back to microsoft.
- give me back a windows XP/7 style start menu. this stupidity of having to type in what you want makes me want to go back to dos
- DESTROY FROM ORBIT that bloody Cortana shit that is constantly eating cpu cycles and trashing around on the drive
- disable the drive indexing for fastsearch or whatever they call it these days.

apart from that i can live with win 10.

whjat version should i buy. We use win10 at work and have none of that stuff but i can't get that on my home edition ( we run enterprise and the price of that is unpalatable for my home machines )

[Halcyon]

[Bud]

I'm a Windows guy and there is absolutely nothing wrong with Windows 10, it's not shit, you're just doing it wrong. ;-)

</sarcasm>

I was thinking about this for a moment.  I do not like being sodomized by Bill Gates. For me "doing it right" would mean switching around and I get to sodomize Bill Gates while I get paid humongous amounts of money to do so. Yes, that sounds a bit better than Win10.

Windows was best in Bill Gate's time. For what it has become today blame that new clown who's name i can't even pronounce.

[Halcyon]

Windows was best in Bill Gate's time. For what it has become today blame that new clown who's name i can't even pronounce.

Absolutely. Like every other operating system, Windows had its quirks and downfalls but for the most part it was stable (on decent hardware), secure (if you knew what you were doing) and it just worked. Windows XP was brilliant and so was Windows 7. Windows 8/10 are just retarded cousins of Apple MacOS and instead of being made simple to use, they've plastered settings all over the place and you have to guess whether an update will silently uninstall software from your machine each time. Fun!

[Ultron81]

The biggest issue IMO from going from a PC/laptop with Win 7 to Win 10 is driver compatibility, especially on laptops with Intel HD Integrated Graphics.

Intel and MS decided in order to get you to purchase a new laptop, they will not produce proper drivers for Win 10 on legacy hardware. So if you have a PC/laptop that came with Windows 7, Windows 10 is going to be a nightmare when it comes to driver compatibility.

[soldar]

Windows XP was brilliant

"Was"?  I am still using XP and it is what I am posting with. No problems with updates here.

Years ago I set up a machine with Win7 with the intention of making the transition but a lot of the software I use with XP does not run on Win7 so I never really moved over as I had intended to do.

Then I set up a machine with Linux Mint and I do use that for some things. Very slowly the transition is happening from WinXP to Linux Mint. Very slowly because old dogs have difficulty with new tricks.

But it is certain I will never even try Win10.

[iMo]

Never say never

[soldar]

Never say never

I guess I could eventually find out when I get to hell that I am forced to use Win10 there. Wouldn't surprise me at all.

[Mr. Scram]

The biggest issue IMO from going from a PC/laptop with Win 7 to Win 10 is driver compatibility, especially on laptops with Intel HD Integrated Graphics.

Intel and MS decided in order to get you to purchase a new laptop, they will not produce proper drivers for Win 10 on legacy hardware. So if you have a PC/laptop that came with Windows 7, Windows 10 is going to be a nightmare when it comes to driver compatibility.

A lot of companies are currently making the move from Windows 7 to 10 as the support for 7 is being dropped and this doesn't appear to be a relevant hurdle.

[Halcyon]

"Was"?  I am still using XP and it is what I am posting with. No problems with updates here.

That's because support ended 5 years ago and even now support for Windows POSReady support has ended. You won't have any problems with updates because you won't be getting any updates ;-)

Just on that, be careful installing POSReady updates on a standard XP installation, they are not the same and I had XP brick itself following one of those updates years ago. There is a reason why Microsoft didn't just push out the same updates to XP users.

[james_s]

If you value your sanity, go with 7, I was forced to use Win10 at work for around 2 years and hated every minute of it. Screw the security updates, Windows Update has lost all credibility and is on par with your average foreign malware, the cure is worse than the disease.

Use an up to date browser, run NoScript and AdBlock always, consider a good antivirus program and keep it updated, don't download sketchy warez and you'll be fine. I disabled Windows Update 4 years ago on every Windows machine I have left, zero problems, zero infections. Ignore the handful of chicken littles who will scream that the sky is falling, let them scream until their face turns blue.

Or you could consider just dumping Windows all together and going with Linux, I'm now running that on all but one PC in the house.

[SiliconWizard]

Note that those still willing to use Win 7 AND get updates, it's going to be possible until 2023:

https://www.techspot.com/news/76354-microsoft-extends-paid-windows-7-support-until-2023.html

To this day, I have absolutely no clue how much they will charge for this though.

Edit: didn't notice that "It’ll be available to all Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Enterprise customers with volume licensing."
So that's basically for businesses and not for end-users...

[Nusa]

Current predictions are that 35% of Windows installations will still be Windows 7 when end-of-life support happens in January 14, 2020. The question is, how long can you go without running into a game-breaking issue because of no further updates? That answer is going to be measured in years for most people. And I'd suggest that support from non-Microsoft vendors of software and hardware that will eventually end up being a bigger issue than updates, in most cases. Most of which are not going to drop Windows 7 support until the user base shrinks more than it has.

If a security problem shows up that is deemed critical, Microsoft will avoid the PR nightmare of not fixing it and fix it anyway. Witness last months patch that included every version of windows as far back as XP, version3: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4500705/customer-guidance-for-cve-2019-0708

Yes, Windows XP still has a small share of the market, even after being out of support for many years.

[SiliconWizard]

Note that those still willing to use Win 7 AND get updates, it's going to be possible until 2023:

You probably can hack Windows to deceive Update Server as if it is an Enterprise copy.

Possibly, but the conditions under which MS would provide this support is still unclear. They may allow or block it on a per-customer basis (the above article seems to imply that), so on a given set of license keys, not just if this is an Enterprise copy.

They state that it would be available for Windows 7 Pro versions as well. So they are not going to base it solely on the version, but on the license keys IMO...

[Wilksey]

I must say I am a bit of a sucker for Windows 7, I did install a new version of 10 and it did ask me if I wanted to allow Microsoft to send data and allow Cortana to run, so I think the newer installers must give more options when installing?

Anyway, I found, and it's not a "new"thing, but Windows 10 will install and run fine without a license key, I think the only thing I couldn't do was personalise it (desktop background), but there are ways around that, and it displays the Windows activation message on the desktop, which again, there are ways around that, so if you wanted to try it then I don't know what other limitations there are, but even the enterprise version seems to run without limitation, or I haven't found any, I did only pay a few GBP's for the full license which it seemed happy to activate and work with.

You can download the ISO from Microsoft Windows 10 download site, if using Windows already then set the browser to send the user agent through as Apple or something and refresh the page it'll then allow you to download the ISO rather than the toolkit to create media.

[wraper]

but even the enterprise version seems to run without limitation, or I haven't found any, I did only pay a few GBP's for the full license which it seemed happy to activate and work with.

Do you mean stolen licence resold to many people fraud from ebay or some other dodgy place? With activation probably revoked later? Rather than paying for that non real licence to scummy seller, you could just outright install win 10 over cracked win 7 and get a "free" digital licence bind to your computer hardware. Does not make it any less legal. As it isn't such in your case to begin with.

[Mr. Scram]

Note that those still willing to use Win 7 AND get updates, it's going to be possible until 2023:

https://www.techspot.com/news/76354-microsoft-extends-paid-windows-7-support-until-2023.html

To this day, I have absolutely no clue how much they will charge for this though.

Edit: didn't notice that "It’ll be available to all Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Enterprise customers with volume licensing."
So that's basically for businesses and not for end-users...

Extended support is typically used by big institutions like governments caught out by the support ending. Microsoft is willing to provide extended support but expect to pay dearly. It's not viable for normal end users in more ways than one.

[soldar]

Windows 10 fools users into thinking they have backed up the registry when, in fact, no backup was made.

Microsoft Admits Windows 10 Registry Backups Don't Work
https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2019/06/29/microsoft-windows-10-upgrade-registry-warning-upgrade-windows/

Windows 10 is in a rut. The platform has been hit with multiple problems in recent weeks and partners have been making things even worse. But now an important new Windows 10 warning (and the failure behind it) falls squarely on Microsoft’s shoulders. 

Picked up by the ever-excellent Ghacks, Microsoft has issued a warning to all its 800M Windows 10 users that a serious and long-running bug in the platform is not actually a bug at all. Instead, the problem was introduced “by design”. And it’s worrying on multiple levels.

What Microsoft confirms it did was quietly switch off Registry backups in Windows 10 eight months ago, despite giving users the impression this crucial safeguarding system was still working. As Ghacks spotted at the time, Registry backups would show “The operation completed successfully", despite no backup file being created.

Backing up a registry is a crucial last line of defence for many businesses and everyday users. Should a Windows System Restore point fail, barring the use of third-party software, the registry backup is all you have. And yet Microsoft has now spelt out what was actually happening:

“Starting in Windows 10, version 1803, Windows no longer automatically backs up the system registry to the RegBack folder. If you browse to the WindowsSystem32configRegBack folder in Windows Explorer, you will still see each registry hive, but each file is 0kb in size.”

Edit: Windows 1803 was actually released in April 2018, which suggests this deception has been going on for more than a year.

So why has Microsoft done this? In the company’s own words: “to help reduce the overall disk footprint size of Windows”. And how big is a registry backup? Typically 50-100MB.

In an extremely belated attempt to put things right, Microsoft has detailed a workaround. Ironically, it involves editing the registry but this will undoubtedly have come too late for users who, in their hour of need, discovered the registry backups Windows 10 told them were “completed successfully” were nothing of the sort.

In recent months Microsoft has intensified its attempt to move hundreds of millions of Windows 7 users to Windows 10. But it is actions like this, which is why many of them will resist to the bitter end.

[SiliconWizard]

Windows 10 fools users into thinking they have backed up the registry when, in fact, no backup was made.

Nice.

I don't know how anyone could ever tolerate those never-ending fuckups... it's a disaster. Really. I know some people here are still convinced that Windows 10 is great and that everyone saying otherwise is a moron that doesn't understand what progress is all about, but still. How can you ever tolerate that?

[SiliconWizard]

Now I can see why MS is not going to change strategies any time soon and why they don't see a problem with it, nor their shareholders: https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/MSFT
(just take a look on a 5-year span...)
 

[HighVoltage]

Does anyone know if there is a tool that nukes all the annoying things from win 10 ?
There used to be something called pcdecrapifier to hunt down all the junk companies install on store bought machines. ( like demoe and time limited junk.)

There is a tool
"This Windows 10 Setup Script turns off a bunch of unnecessary Windows 10 telemetery, bloatware, & privacy things. Not guaranteed to catch everything."

 https://gist.github.com/alirobe/7f3b34ad89a159e6daa1

[Mr. Scram]

Does anyone know if there is a tool that nukes all the annoying things from win 10 ?
There used to be something called pcdecrapifier to hunt down all the junk companies install on store bought machines. ( like demoe and time limited junk.)

what i want to accomplish :

- Disable automatic updates. Download them but let me choose when to install. The install system is broken.
- disable anything that gets sent back to microsoft.
- give me back a windows XP/7 style start menu. this stupidity of having to type in what you want makes me want to go back to dos
- DESTROY FROM ORBIT that bloody Cortana shit that is constantly eating cpu cycles and trashing around on the drive
- disable the drive indexing for fastsearch or whatever they call it these days.

apart from that i can live with win 10.

whjat version should i buy. We use win10 at work and have none of that stuff but i can't get that on my home edition ( we run enterprise and the price of that is unpalatable for my home machines )

Shutup O&O is a pretty good tool. You can forget about control over updates. It's not going to happen. The Start Menu is what you're used, you just also have the option of typing which is exactly how it worked in Windows 7 and even 8.

https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10

[Ramsy]

I am using Windows 10,but i miss Windos 7.